


[fic] Jailbreak

by alwaystheocean



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 12:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21457873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaystheocean/pseuds/alwaystheocean
Summary: "Given everything about the Mighty Nein and their sometimes...questionable life choices, the most remarkable thing about this situation is that it’s taken this long to come about, but somehow that knowledge doesn’t make Beau feel even a tiny bit better."
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Comments: 10
Kudos: 189
Collections: Femslash Exchange 2019





	[fic] Jailbreak

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Settiai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/gifts).

_This is fucking stupid,_ Beau thinks, lying on the narrow cot in her actual cell, in an actual godsdamned jail, of all the stupid fucking places to be. She kicks the bars moodily in an attempt to alleviate her feelings. They make a clang sound that’s kind of satisfying, as is the “pipe down!” yelled by one of the guards down the hall.__

_ _Given everything about the Mighty Nein and their sometimes...questionable life choices, the most remarkable thing about this situation is that it’s taken this long to come about, but somehow that knowledge doesn’t make Beau feel even a tiny bit better. They fly by the seat of their pants so much of the time, and sometimes get out of the fucking stupidest shit by frankly incredible luck, that it makes some kind of twisted sense that there’d be a pay-off. And like, it’s _fine_, she knows the others are probably already frantically trying to figure out a plan to bust her out, and some podunk jail isn’t going to present much of a challenge for them, but still. _ _

_ _If anything, she’s surprised she hasn’t had a message from Jester yet filling her in on the details. She grins despite her frustration. She’s never been on the receiving end of Jester’s Sending spell before, and that’s bound to be a fun new experience if nothing else._ _

_ _“Pssst! Beau!”_ _

_ _“Right on cue,” Beau mutters to herself, before realizing she’s hearing Jester’s familiar voice with her ears, not in her mind or however the fuck that magic works. She sits bolt upright, and glances around wildly to find Jester’s head has popped into view just outside her window._ _

_ _“Jester? What the fuck are you doing here?!”_ _

_ _“Getting you out, of course!” Jester chirps, as if that should be self-evident. Which, to be fair, it should, but why in the name of fuck would it be a good plan not to let the subject of the jailbreak know about the jailbreak before you started the jailbreak?! But oh, right, this was the Mighty Nein, who wouldn’t know a good plan if it bit them on the nose at the best of times. Never mind._ _

_ _“Stupid question. Silly me. How, exactly?” _ _

_ _Jester wordlessly flourishes her paintbrush and, without waiting for Beau to respond, gets straight to work on the bars. OK, that’s step one. Granted, Beau still has questions about how they’re getting down from this many stories up, or, for that matter, how Jester _got_ this many stories up, but as first steps go, she’s seen worse. _ _

_ _She hops off the bed and starts parkouring up the wall, which is rough-hewn enough to make finding grip easy, till she’s level with the window, set almost at ceiling height. She sticks her head out as far as she can, trying to see how Jester’s apparently just hanging in mid-air. The movement brings them almost nose to nose, and despite, or maybe because of, the urgency of their situation, she can’t help but notice the intent expression on Jester’s face as she concentrates on painting the bars into noodles, or the way her freckles stand out almost navy blue against her skin, dusting the bridge of her nose. Wrenching her attention back to the situation at hand, she cranes her neck to look past Jester out the window. _ _

_ _Jester is apparently just hanging unsupported in midair. Sure. To be fair, Beau’s seen weirder._ _

_ _“Beau, get out of the way, I need to concentrate and you’re being _very_ distracting.” _ _

_ _Beau immediately hops back down, grinning to herself as she does. Under different circumstances, she’d have a lot of fun with a comment like that, but as things stand, she files it away as something to think about once they’re out of here. _ _

_ _She bounces impatiently on the balls of her feet, watching Jester paint. Fun as that is, she about faces and heads for the bars instead, shutting Jester out for a sec and instead trying to get a bead on the guard. Jester’s painting isn’t noisy - at least, not yet - and…yup, the guards are still talking quietly amongst themselves._ _

_ _“Hey, Beau! I think I’m done.”_ _

_ _Beau whirls around to find the bars are now colorful silks that she can part with a wave of her hand._ _

_ _“_Nice_ work, Jes!” She’s at the window and halfway out, ready to start scaling the outer wall before Jester grabs her arm._ _

_ _“Beau, wait. I know you’re basically a monkey but I have a safer way. Hold onto me.”_ _

_ _“Haaa. Monk-ey. Alright, sure, we’ll do it your way.” She reaches out and grabs Jester’s arms. Jester reaches back, mirroring the gesture. Before Beau has a chance to ask what happens next, Jester has muttered an incantation and they’re both gone, wrapped in a purple cloud of Jester’s magic, reappearing safely on the ground several stories below her window. Beau takes a brief moment to appreciate Jester’s guns before dropping her hands and flashing a quick grin and a thumbs up._ _

_ _“Okee, it’s this way.” Jester grabs her hand and starts towing her round the side of the building. Beau doesn’t think that’s strictly necessary but doesn’t object. _ _

_ _“Hey, Jes, how come we’re still inside the grounds? I thought that spell went way further than that.”_ _

_ _“I couldn’t make it work past the wards. It’s OK though, we can just sneak out the way I came i-” _ _

_ _That’s when Jester stops so suddenly Beau almost crashes into her. Looking past her, Beau can see the problem - a guard doing a sweep of the grounds. He doesn’t look like he’s in any kind of hurry, and the lack of kerfuffle suggests she hasn’t been missed yet but he _is_ in the way. Beau starts digging in her pockets for a distraction, when Jester squeezes the hand she’s still holding, and holds up her free hand, signalling for Beau to wait. A second later, another copy of Jester appears right in front of the guard. The duplicate waves jauntily, before running away in the opposite direction. The guard lets out a yell of surprise and hares off after her, leaving their route clear._ _

_ _Beau nudges Jester, and she takes the hint, picking up the pace till they’re practically running. Maybe it’s a little messed up, but fuck, there’s just something about racing out of danger, dodging shit by the skin of your teeth, that makes Beau feel alive. She feels like she could run hand in hand with Jester forever._ _

_ _All too soon, Jester skitters to a stop, and this time they’ve been running fast enough that Beau does bump into her back. Looking over Jester’s shoulder, she can see why: the guards have clearly worked out something’s up, and rather than waste time on wild goose chases they’ve gone for fortifying the main entrances. Well, shit. She can hardly fault their logic, but it’s not exactly convenient._ _

_ _They both crouch down out of sight, taking a moment to re-group._ _

_ _“Now what?” Beau whispers, hoping Jester has something else up her sleeve._ _

_ _Jester shrugs. “I don’t think my duplicate is going to be enough of a distraction for that many guards.”_ _

_ _“Well, what else do we have?” Beau pauses for a moment, then a slow smile spreads across her face. She reaches into a pocket, and pulls out one of her boom sticks. “I think this could be pretty fucking distracting, wouldn’t you say?”_ _

_ _Jester’s answering grin takes her breath away for a moment. Later. Deal with Jester’s everything and her reactions to it later. Escape now._ _

_ _“OK. So. If I throw this over that way-” Beau gestures vaguely off at an angle between them and the gate “-hopefully enough of them will go and see what the fuck just happened and we can make a run for it?”_ _

_ _“My duplicate could carry it!”_ _

_ _“Ooooh, even better. OK, let’s do it.”_ _

_ _Jester nods decisively, and just like that, a second Jester appears, mirroring the pose and gesture exactly. It’s weird to see Jester’s duplicate outside of combat, but Beau could get used to it. Not that this situation is that far off combat though, to be honest. Beau lights the boom stick and hands it to the duplicate, who immediately sets off at a dead run in the exact direction Beau had sketched earlier. Beau makes a note to ask Jester later how she tells her duplicates what to do, and how they can even carry things. Magic. Weird._ _

_ _The shouts from the guards start almost immediately, and two of them start running towards the duplicate immediately. OK, good start, good start. There’s still four left on the gate, but their odds are getting better all the time._ _

_ _“Wait for it, wait for it…” Beau mutters under her breath, and she’s honestly not sure whether that’s directed at herself or Jester._ _

_ _ _ **BOOM** _ _ _

_ _The explosion goes off, in a shower of dust and debris. There’s a collective moment of slightly stunned silence before the rest of the guards take off running after their fellows. Beau gives them the tiniest of head starts before grabbing Jester’s hand and pelting for the gate at an absolute dead run, dragging Jester behind her. She can hear both their feet pounding the pavement, and it’s not long before she hears footsteps and shouts of the guards behind them. The gate is so close now. Putting on a new burst of speed, pulling Jester in her wake, Beau keeps running._ _

_ _What feels simultaneously like an age and no time at all later, they’re through the gate. Beau keeps running blindly through the streets, ducking and weaving round corners, only coming to a skidding halt when Jester’s hand slips from hers. She whirls around in a panic, wobbling in the process, winded, checking for Jester and signs of pursuit, only to find Jester leaning forward with her hands on her knees, breathing hard._ _

_ _“I’m - fine - just - need - to catch - my breath!” she pants, each word punctuated by another gasp._ _

_ _Beau laughs, giddy with relief, adrenaline coursing through her veins. “You should come train with me and Fjord sometime,” she says, trying to hide the hitch in her own breathing._ _

_ _She crouches down opposite Jester till their faces are level with each other. “Hey. Thanks for coming back for me.”_ _

_ _“Nooo problem. That’s what we do, right?” _ _

_ _Beau feels a warmth flood through her that she knows has nothing to do with their run._ _

_ _“Right.”_ _

_ _There’s a moment of stillness in which Beau has a chance to notice how close their faces are, close enough to make out each of the freckles dusting Jester’s nose and cheeks, the thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. _ _

_ _Maybe it’s the relief of having escaped, or the adrenaline still pumping in her veins, maybe it’s both those things and something else besides, but before she has a chance to remind herself of all the reasons this is a bad idea, Beau leans forward to close the distance between them, and kisses Jester, full on the lips._ _

_ _What surprises her is Jester meeting her halfway there. Between that and the way they’re both crouching in the alley, it’s a little awkward and tentative at first, but once they back off and readjust it’s…well, it’s pretty fucking great, actually. _ _

_ _Beau’s kissed a lot of people, and each kiss meant something to her, even if only for that one kiss, or that one night. She’s not sure she’s ever kissed someone she knows as well as she knows Jester, and it’s definitely different. Maybe even something she’d like the chance to get used to. There’s a voice in the back of Beau’s head screaming that she’s fucked it up, this one good thing, this friendship, but she ignores it. That voice is a hell of a lot smaller than it used to be. _ _

_ _Reluctantly, she breaks the kiss. This is _definitely_ something to come back to, but maybe once they get home. Their eyes meet, and Beau fights to keep all of what she’s feeling visible, not to hide any of it if she can help it._ _

_ _It must work, cuz Jester smiles, biting her lip as a slightly nervous laugh bubbles up._ _

_ _“So…that’s new.”_ _

_ _Jester just nods._ _

_ _“Maybe that’s a thing we should talk about some more?”_ _

_ _Jester nods again, fervently._ _

_ _Beau grins. “Your place or mine?” _ _

_ _Jester cracks up. “You’re so silly, Beau.” She grabs Beau’s hands, pulling her up. She keeps a firm hold of one hand, lacing their fingers together, and they start heading for tonight’s ramshackle inn, to the shared room that means home, for tonight at least._ _


End file.
